Fourteen months after starting a relationship online, Anna discovered that she was a victim of romance fraud. ‘Antony’ wasn’t in fact who he said he was. Now, Anna is using her story to fight for change and is considered an expert in this field.  Catfishing, romance fraud and scams are more prevalent than ever. Last year alone the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau in the UK received 8,036 reports of romance fraud resulting in a loss of more than £92m. But how does this happen? How do you find yourself in a relationship with someone who is using a fake identity? Do you think it would never happen to you? In this gripping episode, Anna shares her story and speaks to Annie about the work she’s doing now to change the stigma around romance scams with her website Catch the Catfish and organisation LoveSaid. This includes speaking at the House of Commons with the fraud select committee, campaigning for the police to take these cases more seriously and for legislation to change around the creation of fake identities on dating sites.  You can get help and support and find out more about Anna and her work here: https://catchthecatfish.com/ https://www.lovesaid.org/ @catchthecatfish123 GET IN TOUCH Contact us at [email protected] with your emails and voice notes. Changes is a deaf friendly podcast, transcripts can be accessed here: https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.